ALBANY, Ga. — Heritage Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HBOS), the holding company for HeritageBank of the South, announced Friday unaudited financial results for the quarter ended March 31 which included net income of $3.9 million.

The net income is 52 cents per diluted share, up threefold from net income of $971,000 or 12 cents per diluted share for the year-earlier quarter,

During the quarter, Heritage completed its FDIC-assisted acquisition of Frontier Bank.

The bank also reported:

— Loan growth, excluding loans acquired through FDIC-assisted acquisitions, of $18 million or 3 percent on a linked-quarter basis;

— An increase in loans acquired through FDIC-assisted acquisitions of $64.9 million or 77 percent on a linked-quarter basis;

Commenting on the results, Leonard Dorminey, president and chief executive officer, said, “We are pleased to report another quarter of improved financial results. The positive results of our focus on efficiency and expense management are coming to fruition. In addition, the investments we made in our mortgage division and commercial banking network are paying dividends, as evidenced by increased fee income and continued organic loan growth.

“We are also excited about the acquisition of Frontier in an FDIC-assisted transaction completed in the first quarter,” Dorminey said. “This marks our fourth FDIC-assisted transaction and further demonstrates our ability to successfully execute our expansion strategy and prudently deploy our strong capital base. We are optimistic about the opportunities for loan growth both in the Birmingham market area as well as the Western Georgia/Eastern Alabama corridor.”

In connection with the Frontier FDIC-assisted acquisition, the company plans to close the Vincent, Ala., branch later in 2013, subject to regulatory approval.

Commenting on the expense management initiatives in the Frontier acquisition, Heath Fountain, chief financial officer and chief administrative officer, said, “We are confident in our ability to operate the acquired branch network in an efficient and profitable manner. While we are early in the transition, we believe we will be able to achieve all of our cost-saving targets identified prior to the acquisition.”

During the first quarter of 2013, the company repurchased approximately 291,000 shares of common stock at an average price of $14.02 under its stock repurchase program.

The company’s estimated total risk-based capital ratio at March 31, 2013, was 16.4 percent, exceeding the required minimum of 10 percent to be considered a well-capitalized institution.

As previously announced, it is not currently anticipated that any quarterly dividends will be paid in 2013, but that regular quarterly dividends will be reinstated in 2014.

Comments

Nice to know, glad they are so happy, but I liked them better and think the attitude and service was better when they were plain old AGE Credit Union. I have always used credit unions, never a bank, and I am leaving AGE.